I happen to be a former civil servant who resigned from the IAS after 14 years of service

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rajatnarain 1

rajatnarain 1

Well, I happen to be a former civil servant who resigned from the IAS after 14 years of service as I found myself a misfit in the system. I now devote my time to [a] a spiritual organisation reading and writing [c] use the power RTI .

As a beginner in RTI matters I would appreciate being enlightened on the following issues:

[1] the Act seems to provide for a basic fee of Rs10.Is that right? If so, how is it that the office of the Administrator , HUDA Gurgaon charges Rs 50?

[2] The modes of payment of fees seem to include [1] cash [2] DD [ 3] Pay Order [4] Postal Order . Is that right?

[3] Now , there are some offices, such as Adm. HUDA Gurgaon , that are reluctant to accept cash on the plea that the plea that there is no cashier in the complex. Is that legal ?

[4] The websites of the Central /State Governments , while generally giving the name/designation of the PIOs ---but are seldom exhaustive --, fail to mention the name of the authority in whose the instrument [ DD?PO?postal order ] needs to be drawn. it is a herculean task to obtain this information from the concerned public authority. What has been the experience of other friends , in the case of such out-station queries of where the applicant prefers not to travel to the concerned office? Is there a move to approach the CIC/ Government to make such info mandatory?

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ganpat1956 669

ganpat1956 669

By the way, your introduction has come out as reply to the introduction of another member, rather than a new thread. I will separately request the forum authorities to delink your post from here and make it a new thread. Please take some time to familiarise yourself with our portal by browsing various sections. Regarding other queries on RTI matters, please raise the same at the relevant forums and our members will be happy to clear your doubts.

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neeraj Chauhan 7

neeraj Chauhan 7

Well its quite amazing that you quit IAS job to move into what you say spiritual world . I just wanna ask when u say u were misfit in the system what exactly or really you meant to say . And after quitting your job what you have been doing. And what was your family reaction.

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rajatnarain 1

rajatnarain 1

I am responding to Dr Kushal Pathak's post. To begin, with I am delighted by his styling himself as the " Chief Dreamer RTI India" . Truly RTI has come a breath of fresh air to the country's civil and political discourse One dreams and hopes that it may evolve into a mighty gale that might sweep away a lot of muck out of our blessed land and in the process impart a huge sense of empowerment to the thinking citizen.

The reason I had not 'posted' in the past few days was that I was occupied with using the RTI ---indeed I must shot off over a dozen applications. One common hurdle that I have encountered is as follows: Submitting applications over the counter is , well, okay, if you deposit the fees in cash. But should you want to do so by other modes---DD/PO?/PO---the immediate question is: in whose favour do you draw the instrument? I have so fr not found any indication on the website of any department nor even of the CIC or the RTI portal. The problems compounded by the fact that even most offices of the PIOs are ignorant or unsure about it. One of the PIOs of the MHA , when pressed, said apparently out of sheer exasperation: well, just make it in favour of 'DDO, MHA. The problem is far worse when you attempt to send RTI applications by post to other cities/ States . You have to find out the phone number of the concerned PIO, make an STD call and ask . You will be lucky to get the info in the first call.

I have been wondering whether I am alone in encountering this problem.Surely of the total lot of RTI cases there must be a good number of outstation ones. How do they manage?

Thought I might share this with other dreamer-friends.

Rajat Narain

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rajatnarain 1

rajatnarain 1

Thanks for your thread. I just opened the portal for a few minutes and saw your message. Kindly excuse me but I have to be rushing off for some urgent work and hope to respond before the end of the day. Kindly bear with me.

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rajatnarain 1

rajatnarain 1

This is further to my last post. You have asked me as to why I found myself a misfit in the system. Well, to begin with, may I request you to kindly take the trouble of opening the link below? That might provide part of the answer.

As you would observe, I didn’t quit immediately after the episode ---for I thought it was one’s duty to fight from within the system howsoever adversely stacked it might be. But over the years one saw mattes deteriorate relentlessly, particularly in UP to which cadre I stood allotted. Political interference increased manifold, the standard of politicians worsening. There was even an instance of petty workers of the ruling party barging into and occupying the chair of the District Magistrate.

One knew that if one wanted to resist the political masters one would have to face frequent transfers. But ‘The System’ in UP came up with a more innovative potent weapon. For instance, the Vigilance Dept. has been formed to identify and target corrupt bureaucrats. Ironically, in States like UP, they turned the whole thing over its head, targeting honest, ‘non-conforming’ and non-pliable officers by having anonymous complaints concocted against them and then have the Vigilance Dept launch an unending investigation based on it---the idea being to demoralize him and send a ‘suitable’ signal to other potential ‘non-conformists.’. True, nothing would eventually come out. But not every individual would have the steam to withstand the humiliation of being suspended and facing long-winded vindictive proceedings lasting several years. I did not quite relish the possibility of having to face this innovative weapon one day.

In the new System, a conformist was a bureaucrat whose approach and actions fell in line with the prevailing agenda of the political master: [1] recover your “ investment ‘ in the expensive election process within the shortest possible time [2] then go beyond and continue to feather your nest to take care of your future generations for political career can be short [3] pay-back the people who provided money and muscle power for your electoral campaign --- through the award of contracts , transfers [ even to the patwari, constable level] , motivated economic / financial policy decisions, bailing out criminals.............

The funny ---and worst---part was that even if you were merely doing your duty ---for which the tax payer paid, mind you ---you began to be singled out, almost as if doing one’s job as you were paid to do , were a crime against The System. No one was happy with you. Not your subordinates who deprived, by your actions , of their ‘bread and butter’. Not ---sadly -- your colleagues or superiors who would not or could not stand up to their political masters. They could be subsumed under four categories---[a] those that aligned themselves with the political masters [ The System] for career advancement for material gain or [c] for both . The non-conformist ----the misguided fellow who naively believed in merely ‘doing his duty as he was paid to’ and refused to ‘align’ with ‘The System’ simply fell by the wayside, marginalized and/or hounded out.

Another personal factor driving my ‘opting out’ was the fact that I couldn’t make the two ends meet. I had no extravagant life style. Teetotaler. Veggy. No club life. Home and family bound. Nuclear family. Single child. An undemanding wife who wore little jewelry and seldom bought new sarees. But yes , we did need a personal servant and a personal vehicle for personal use. For various routine personal visits. Also , to be able to make periodical trips to see our Guru. And the means to be able to send our only child to a good/ boarding school, if need be. The rules did not permit you to use the staff car for personal/family use. One also needed a little cash to indulge in a personal vice ---books. And one realized that one’s ‘princely’ salary of Rs 2, 300 when I quit in late 1983 did not permit us to afford these things.

So when an offer came from the private sector for a senior position in a large cement plant in Rajasthan, I accepted it as an opportunity to opt out of The System. It was not a princely salary either---Rs5, 000. But yes, it permitted me to afford most of the the above things.

After a few years in the private sector, I realized that here too you were not your own master. So my wife and I embarked on a little business venture ---where I succeeded in squandering away whatever personal capital that I had inherited !!. Meanwhile , once our only child had graduated and taken up employment , we had all the time in the world to [a] ruminate over life spend time in the Guru’s ashram [c] catch up with reading and [d] hopefully participating in activism.

I do trust this serves to answer your question.

Best regards,

Rajat Narain

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Shrawan 810

Shrawan 810

I must confess, the whole incident and the life cycle of yours had filled me with grief and a long distant dream of 'within-system' transformation. Your narration well qualifies for the blog, kindly create one and post this one there.

[2] The modes of payment of fees seem to include [1] cash [2] DD [ 3] Pay Order [4] Postal Order . Is that right?

Yes, For RTI, 2005 the Central Govt. has prescribed these modes for payment of fee.

[3] Now , there are some offices, such as Adm. HUDA Gurgaon , that are reluctant to accept cash on the plea that the plea that there is no cashier in the complex. Is that legal ?

As per Haryana RTI Act, an applicant can deposit the fee in cash. And he can deposit the fee with the CPIO,

The fee shall be deposited with the State Public Information Officer/

State Assistant Public Information Officer either in cash against proper receipt or by treasury challan.

You can deposit the fee with the CPIO.

[ATTACH]64[/ATTACH]

[4] The websites of the Central /State Governments , while generally giving the name/designation of the PIOs ---but are seldom exhaustive --, fail to mention the name of the authority in whose the instrument [ DD?PO?postal order ] needs to be drawn. it is a herculean task to obtain this information from the concerned public authority. What has been the experience of other friends , in the case of such out-station queries of where the applicant prefers not to travel to the concerned office? Is there a move to approach the CIC/ Government to make such info mandatory?

We have plans to compile such information here at RTI India.

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hkdubey 8

hkdubey 8

Well, I happen to be a former civil servant who resigned from the IAS after 14 years of service as I found myself a misfit in the system. I now devote my time to [a] a spiritual organisation reading and writing [c] use the power RTI .

As a beginner in RTI matters I would appreciate being enlightened on the following issues:

[1] the Act seems to provide for a basic fee of Rs10.Is that right? If so, how is it that the office of the Administrator , HUDA Gurgaon charges Rs 50?

[2] The modes of payment of fees seem to include [1] cash [2] DD [ 3] Pay Order [4] Postal Order . Is that right?

[3] Now , there are some offices, such as Adm. HUDA Gurgaon , that are reluctant to accept cash on the plea that the plea that there is no cashier in the complex. Is that legal ?

[4] The websites of the Central /State Governments , while generally giving the name/designation of the PIOs ---but are seldom exhaustive --, fail to mention the name of the authority in whose the instrument [ DD?PO?postal order ] needs to be drawn. it is a herculean task to obtain this information from the concerned public authority. What has been the experience of other friends , in the case of such out-station queries of where the applicant prefers not to travel to the concerned office? Is there a move to approach the CIC/ Government to make such info mandatory?

Dear frnd,

Intially I shall welcome you to this Forum. It is the need of hour that all misfit in this system join in a forum to prove that misfits are mostfit and fits are unfit to this system.

There are many wrongs: I am stuggling about late running of trains in our Division. I am moving in circles and many times I find I am at the starting point again and again but I shall reach the goal. The circle may be vicious but I will find the end in the circle too. I hope you too will find this forum will be helpful for you too.

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hkdubey 8

hkdubey 8

I have gone through. You have suffered a lot but Suffering always pays. I appreciate your will power. we are surely lucky to get you in the forum. Still I hope misfits will prove they are most fit. I am of the opinion that two things never dies. 1. Truth which unfolds itself with time. 2. Soul it is real immortal. Truth will win at last.

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sppataskar 17

sppataskar 17

At the outset I welcome you, Sir on this site. You say you were misfit. Yes, the political set up is like that where the persons with certain principles and motive to serve with dedication has no value.